TURQUOISE CHILL

CAST Khalid Abdalla ... Amir Atossa Leoni ... Soraya Shaun Toub ... Rahim Khan Sayed Jafar Masihullah Gharibzada ... Omar Zekeria Ebrahimi ... Young Amir Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada ... Young Hassan Mir Mahmood Shah Hashimi ... Business Man in Baba's Study Homayoun Ershadi ... Baba Nabi Tanha ... Ali Elham Ehsas ... Young Assef Bahram Ehsas ... Wali Tamim Nawabi ... Kamal Mohamad Nabi Attai ... Uncle Saifo the Kite Seller Mohamad Nadir Sarwari ... Spice Merchant Mustafa Haidari ... Party Worker Ahmad Yasar Shir Agha ... Birthday Singer Mohammad Aman Joya ... Mahmood Abdul Azim Wahabzada ... Karim Vsevolod Sevanchos ... Soviet Union Soldier Sayed Miran Farhad ... Burly Man in Truck Murina Abudukelimu ... Young Wife in Truck Igor Radchenko ... Soviet Union Officer Larry Brown ... Gas Station Customer L. Peter Callender ... Dean of Students Jesse Robertson ... Man at Bar Josh Chamberlain ... Pool Player Marco Mazariegos ... Pool Player...

Today was the first shower

The Hangover is a movie about the wildest Bachelor Party one could imagine. Doug Billings (Justin Bartha) is getting married to Tracy Garner (Sasha Barrese) in two days and his best friends Phil Wenneck (Bradley Cooper) & Stu Price (Ed Helms) along with his ‘not all up there’ brother-in-law Alan Garner (Zach Galifianakis) head out to Las Vegas for a night that they’d remember for the rest of their lives. Their adventurous Bachelor party ends in a them losing Doug and their hunt to find him and recollect the events of the night before which brings them in touch with a whole lot of mad characters like Mike Tyson and his Tiger, a crazed out Chinese dude Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong) and his henchmen, a stripper/escort Jade (Heather Graham) and her baby, a black drug dealer Doug (Mike Epps) and a couple of Cops. The movie will have you laughing off your seats and is a must watch. Oh and do stay till the credits because that is probably the most hilarious part of the movie.

New York is a movie that revolves around the whole 9/11 incident and how it affects the lives of the protagonists in the film. Starring Neil Nitin Mukesh, John Abraham, Katrina Kaif & Irrfan, the movie delves into a soul searching question about the cause and effects of the 9/11 incident. How deceit and betrayal lead to terrorism and it questions the atrocities of the FBI. Though it makes you sympathise with the people who have suffered, it also talks about the vicious circle of violence. The acting of John & Kat might be a bit weak, but the on-screen chemistry and the witty dialogues between Neil Nitin and Irrfan are fun. The film making is getting to be very much like a Hollywood production, right down to the narrative, but a bit of a dramatic ending bring that Bollywood drama to the script. All that said, its still a decent film to go an watch.

The Clouds puffed up, then god Dark and then just blew over. No rain drops for miles. So were still waiting for the Monsoons and I watch another day go by as the sun sets without any relief from the Rain Gods. I guess Cyclone Aila blew the Rain Clouds away.

I managed to catch Five Little Indians in concert at The Tollygunge Club on Saturday evening. The band popularly called “FLI” was formed in January 2007 with former members of some well-known “Kolkata” based bands both English and Bengali. FLI, though it has been around for a while has of late made in roads into the Kolkata music scene with its original English music peppered with Hindustani Classical vocals. The band is all about English Original music which sets it apart from most Kolkata English bands that survive on doing covers. As an original music band, FLI might not have many takers in the English music scene who have been fed covers, but their growing following and recent gigs are creating an audience that has been starved for this kind of music. Band: FIVE LITTLE INDIANS Neel Adhikari - vocals, guitars Allan Ao – guitars Arka Das - drums and percussion Sayak Bandyopadhyay - vocals Sanket Bhattacharya – bass You can also listen to some of their music on...

After our visit to the Museum we headed back to our car and decided to pack some Pizza’s from Domino’s Pizza at New Empire. The tiny eatery was packed and we decided to take away. So while we waited for our order, we decided to have some Nimbu Paani by the road side just outside. While we were there, I noticed how the market place on the opposite side of the road was growing at a rapid pace. The cars parked there were slowly getting covered with merchandise and the shop owners calling out to the public passing by to check out their wares. It was truly amazing how this market place operated. When we finally got our Pizza’s and headed back to the car, we were just in time. Our car would have been the next in line to become part of this shopping showcase. So we got in, paid the parking guy and pulled out of there. As we were pulling out of New Market, we were right behind a Kolkata Police Wrecker that was carrying several Motorcycles out of the parking lot. I guess bikes don’t make g...

I confront most people who say “there’s nothing to do in this city” with “what have you seen in this glorious city”. And this doesn’t really hold true for Kolkata per-se. Each city holds its own unique flavour and treasure trove to discover. It requires one’s inquisitiveness to discover the city one lives in. To this end, I made a visit to the Indian Museum on Chowringee on Saturday. The last time and that was the first time I had visited this great Museum was on a vacation to Kolkata at the insistence of my college buddies from Delhi. We had made a trip to Darjeeling (also my first time there) in 1995 and also stayed in Kolkata for several days. That was the first time I had actually been to places as a tourist and among the first time visits, apart from the Museum was the Birla Planetarium. Anyway, the reason for this visit was “The Mummy”. I had told my wife about this Egyptian Mummy that was on display at the Indian Museum and had wanted to show her the same for a while now. S...

The International is another conspiracy theory flick where Interpol Agent Louis Salinger ( Clive Owen ) teams up with Manhattan Assistant District Attorney ( Naomi Watts ) trying to expose a high profile International Financial Institution that is funding terrorists and is determined to bring to justice one of the most powerful banks in the world. Their investigation takes them all over the western world to places like Berlin, New York, Milan and Istanbul. In this high stakes chase, murder is just a by product and as the plot unravels, no one is safe and since entire governments are involved, no one can stop the business though a lot of heads do roll. An action packed high voltage action thriller that’ll keep you gripped till the end.

It was time to head back on the road out of this mad city where every biker thinks he’s “Dhoni” and I as usual left my packing for the morning. Fortunately we got up in time and were out of Ranchi by 9am after a pit stop for petrol and air for the tyres. It’s imperative that one should have a full tank and the tyres properly inflated. We had wanted to visit at least one of the much talked about water falls and the only one that seemed feasible was Dasham Falls which was about 10kms off the highway. So after about an hour of driving, we came to the right turn off towards Dasham Falls. This was a narrow road into rustic Jharkhand and reminded me a lot of the last stretch of road to Mandarmani. Fortunately the road signs on this winding road through rustic villages and hills were fabulous. It was pure bliss driving through complete wilderness. Even the few settlements we passed were archaic with no sign of modern civilisation having intruded on their way of life. We finally came upon...

Since we had spent a day driving to Ranchi, it would be a pity not to do some sight seeing. So we did exactly that. Only that our day started a bit later than anticipated. Anyway the first destination on our agenda was the celebrated “Rock Garden”. Nearly everyone we spoke with at the wedding and even at the hotel reception suggested it. So Rock garden it was. We drove across town asking for directions and finally got there. But one of the incidents on the way was hilarious. I stopped at a busy intersection and as had been the practice so far, asked a Policeman for directions to Rock Garden, which he quite helpfully did give. Then as he walked back to where he was standing to direct traffic, he looked at the number plate. Then took a second look and then signalled to me to pull over to the side. I didn’t quite react and he signalled again. That’s when I knew we were in some sort of trouble. Sure enough as I pulled up to the side, he pointed out to me that I had dark film on my windo...